


for our dark mother, ready your offerings

by jessequicksters



Category: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (TV 2018)
Genre: Background Relationships, CAOS Part 4 Spoilers, Character Study, Death, F/M, Fix-It, Grieving, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Resurrection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessequicksters/pseuds/jessequicksters
Summary: “It appears the offerings have begun,” Hecate says, looking ahead into the night. “To persuade me to bring you back.”Oh, no,Sabrina thinks.Please don’t give up too much, not for me.(In which everyone makes sacrifices to Hecate to bring Sabrina back.)
Relationships: Nicholas Scratch/Sabrina Spellman
Comments: 10
Kudos: 165





	for our dark mother, ready your offerings

**Author's Note:**

> because we've all been through a LOT

_ON DARK STARLIT SHORES_

Sabrina washes up ashore on an island in the glittering night, wiping off black sand from her hands and her face. The breeze is soft and she feels light, as if she could be carried away by a single blow of the wind. Above, she finds the warm glow of a full-bodied moon—so yellow, so bright, that she could almost touch it.

“Welcome to my shores, Child,” a woman approaches from behind.

Sabrina turns around and finds her, “Dark Mother.”

“Yes, Child.”

“I—” she starts recollecting the events that occurred just before she found herself here. The Void. Blackwood. Everything nearly coming to and end—now this. “You couldn’t save me.”

Hecate stirs behind the long, black veils. “You are ungrateful?”

“No! Not at all, Dark Mother. I meant, that means I left my Aunties. Nick. Ambrose and the rest of my friends,” Sabrina says, looking back at the black sand. She suddenly sees something floating towards her, wait, rather—swimming, it appears.

“Is that… Vinegar Tom?” Sabrina says, confused, as the puppy emerges from the waters and lands on Sabrina’s lap. It shakes off the water on its fur as Sabrina strokes it gently.

“It appears the offerings have begun,” Hecate says, looking ahead into the night. “To persuade me to bring you back.”

 _Oh, no_ , Sabrina thinks. _Please don’t give up too much, not for me._

*

**AMBROSE**

“I sacrifice to you, our Dark Mother, a sliver of our moon’s light. Our nights will forever remain a little darker, but this darkness will be nothing compared to a world without your light, nor Sabrina’s light, and for that I pray you will accept this offering, O Great Hecate.”

And so Ambrose takes the light of the moon and buries it in Sabrina’s graves, praying to the moon and back that this would work.

*

**ROZ**

“I sacrifice to you, Dark Mother Hecate, my devotion to…” Roz catches a feeling in her throat and swallows it again, as Harvey squeezes her hand and nods, “the False God. No longer will I worship Him, as it shall always be you, our one, true Mother, Maiden and Crone. You have my full devotion, now and forever.”

*

**HARVEY**

Harvey isn’t sure what to offer, at first. He asks Aunt Hilda for advice, who suggests something that means a lot to him—but not too much, but enough that it would be considered a worthy sacrifice.

He’s read books and comics on Hecate from the Dr. Cerberus’ Bookshop, knows that she likes certain offerings best: dogs were one of them. Aunt Zelda had sacrificed her familiar in her name, for instance.

He couldn’t convert to the coven, like Roz, because Harvey wasn’t a man of much faith to begin with, though the idea of faith mapped out some new ideas. Harvey hangs up a portrait of the Triple Moon Goddess, drawn with charcoal, framed in gold, at the Baxter High arts exhibition.

“Hecate, if you can hear me… I offer you this drawing. It’ll be the first of many portraits I’ll continue to make in your name, every day, until the day I die. I’ve always wanted to be an artist, but I never really knew what my calling was—well, I guess this is it. Consider my talents yours to use, they no longer belong to me.”

*

**PRUDENCE**

“Do you know how much I used to care about blood, Sabrina?” Prudence says, standing in between the twin graves, as a grey storm rolls towards them. “My blood, my father’s blood, the blood of mortals, witches and half-breeds… well, I shall never spend another day of my life worrying of it now. I’ve sacrificed my blood to our Dark Mother, as well as my ability to manipulate it. No more blood spells. So there, I’ve become a lesser witch because of you.”

Prudence accidentally bites her cheek, pushing her tongue into the stinging, bloodless cut.

*

**HILDA**

“Dark Mother, I’ve prepared a feast for you. It’s got all of your favourite things, in it: cake dripping in honey, fresh berries, delicious eggs and cheese, and, um, I know you’re also quite appreciative of meats of the… canine, variety, so. I am no hunter, Dark Mother, but well, anything for you. Wild wolf heart, served on a warm plate underneath the full moon. I’ll be back with the same thing next month, and the next, and the next, until you decide you don’t want any of this, in which case—”

Hilda stops herself, rearranging the plates of food around Hecate’s statue as she tries not to cry on any of the offerings.

*

**THEO**

“Dark Mother, Robin and I—we sacrifice to you the light of the Fae realm. I’ve been slowly learning, to wield some of its light, its magick, but it’ll all be in your name, Hecate. We pray that you return to us our friend, Sabrina, who deserves so much more life, the same way she’s blessed us all with more life.”

*

**ZELDA**

“I am afraid I cannot bring her back, _chérie_ ,” Mambo Marie tells her, curled up in bed, with no light left in her eyes. No niece, no familiar, no loved one by her side.

“I knew that,” Zelda replies. “In any case, I summoned you. I still need you here, with me.”

Mambo Marie nods, crawling under the covers with Zelda gently murmuring dream spells into the air so that she may sleep in peace for one night, at least.

*

_IN WARM PUNISHING SEAS_

The seas are littered with offerings by Sabrina’s loved ones. They’ve been dyed red, with Prudence's blood; wolf hearts keep washing up ashore; as does endless drawings and paintings; the light of Earth’s moon and the Fae realm start to enter this world and the Dark Mother grows stronger, with prayers that multiply with every passing day.

Sabrina aches, as this afterlife keeps reminding her of her family; her friends; her world left behind.

One day, Hecate emerges from the seas with a body, passed out in the goddess’ arms. She drops the body in front of Sabrina, coughing out water in the sand.

“Nicholas,” Sabrina says, leaning over. “Oh, no, no, no, Nicholas. What did you do?”

“He drowned in the Sea of Sorrows. The gates between the realms are closer than ever tonight, Child. If you look at the two tips of the crescent moon in the sky, they're nearly touching. So, if you wish, you would be able to return the same way this boy came.”

Sabrina’s tears taste like saltwater on her lips, “Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying we could leave? Tonight? Why?”

“This is not a resting place, Sabrina Spellman. This is a space in between worlds, in which I preside over. I rely on offerings to maintain the integrity and balance of this place, but with the arrival of this Nicholas Scratch,” Hecate gestures to the ground, “this is a sacrifice too great for me to accept. I am not the goddess of cruelty. I have received enough. I trust that the offerings from your coven shall continue to sustain me for years to come.”

“Yes,” Sabrina nods, gently shaking Nick awake, whose slowly blinking an eye open. He’s still not fully lucid yet. “Nick deserves to live—as do I.”

“Yes, you will continue to serve me well for the rest of your days?” Hecate asks.

“Yes, yes, of course, anything, Dark Mother.”

Hecate turns around to face the seas, as the tide slowly approaches them, “I will require a sacrifice from you too, Child. Decide quickly, before the waters touch you. You will leave this one sacrifice behind, as the tide will take you back to your realm.”

Sabrina scrambles to think. Her family and friends have proved that they would move heaven, hell and Earth to save her, using every last drop of magic, power and ounce of faith in their beings. What would the Aunties do? What would Ambrose? What would Nick?

She owes Hecate everything. She wouldn’t want to make the same mistakes she already has. She’s been arrogant, reckless and foolish with her powers, not just once, but throughout her entire life. Sabrina once thought that magic was her greatest gift, but only because it fueled her hubris. In reality, her greatest gift was the power of those she loved, who loved her in return.

“I sacrifice my magic,” Sabrina finally says, watching as the waters creep in towards them. “It’s yours, O Dark Mother.”

“Very well,” Hecate says, as the tide catches Sabrina. “I accept. Until you return to this crossing, then, Sabrina Spellman.”

The seas are warm, as Sabrina cradles Nick tight; the waves underneath are vicious, like being in the eye of a storm, but eventually, they come out the other side in Sweetwater River.

Sabrina coos Nick awake. “Wake up, Ariel.”

Nick’s eyes light up. “Spellman. You’re—we’re? I’ve missed you, so mu—”

She nods, kissing the boy she’ll always be willing to cross the borders of life, death and everything in between, with.

**Author's Note:**

> plugging my nabrina playlist
> 
> [ **_oh, spellman_ ** ](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1MUUemu3QO8SeTdkK3wFkt?si=NY8l0tcgSL-w5ZsBD-QhDQ)
> 
> here!


End file.
